Chapter Text
Lucius didn't see the need for him to join raids. He could see the action just fine from the Revenge. Spyglasses existed for a reason, in this case so Lucius didn't have to risk his life for the captain.
Stede insisted he go anyway. "Lucius! What kind of pirate are you?"
Lucius shrugged. "Dunno. Look, I'll just be extra baggage!"
"Now Lucius! That's no way to talk about yourself! You always do just fine. Stick by me and everything will be right as rain."
Lucius knew better, but was dragged along to the merchant vessel anyway. What happened next was basically a massacre. Everyone was loving it. All, except Lucius and certainly, the Dutch being slaughtered by pirates.
Stede naturally brought him to the middle of the action. He had a hand on Lucius' shoulder and was acting like it was a particularly interesting sporting event, and not a bloody (literally bloody) raid. He was grinning and Lucius was pretending to write.
"These Dutch chaps never had a chance, eh Lucius?"
"Uh, sure," Lucius said. He winced as Roach stabbed a Dutch sailor in the eye. He bit his lip so he wouldn't scream and turned away.
Stede was now watching Edward closely.
"Good form, Ed!" He cheered.
He turned to Lucius, "Make sure you get a good description of Captain Blackbeard defeating these Dutch scoundrels!"
Edward looked up, waved at Stede, and quickly ducked as a sword swished over his head. Then he stabbed his assailant in the gut.
"That was close," Lucius commented, horrified.
He was shivering and wishing Pete was here to protect him from harm. How did Stede enjoy this? For that matter, how did Pete enjoy this?
Not long after that thought, Pete crashed into Lucius who dropped the journal and instinctively grabbed Pete, somehow keeping him upright.
Pete gave him a sweet smile. "Thanks, Babe!" he called as he leapt back into the fight, sword flashing red.
Lucius was amazed and a little proud of himself that he'd caught Pete. A hesitant little smile spread across his face.
Then a knife sailed past his nose and he began shivering again. "Uh, Captain, I dropped the journal. I have to go–"
Stede momentarily turned away from watching Ed. "Yes, yes, Lucius," he said impatiently. "Do what you need to do!"
Lucius was glad he had an excuse to get away. He grabbed the journal and slipped over to the side of the ship near some cargo.
He found an empty spot besides some cloth bags that smelled like tea. It made decent cover. He scooted over so his back was to the side of the ship and hugged the book to his chest while he tried not to hyperventilate.
After he calmed down a little, he realized he was hearing a soft whine. At first he thought it was him. But he held his breath and the whine continued. Then Lucius realized he wasn't the only one shivering.
Lucius moved some of the cloth bags he was sitting next to and uncovered a ball of fur. At first he was worried: what if it was a rat?
He moved and it began to growl. It was clearly some kind of dog. This was a first for him, seeing a dog on a ship.
"Shh! I'm not going to hurt you. I'm scared shitless, too."
The dog kept growling, but its tail also started to wag.
"Mixed signals?" Lucius sighed. "I'm so over those."
Maybe it was the tone of his voice, but the dog looked at him, cocked its head and stopped growling.
It had black eyes set in a very wolfish face. In fact, it looked almost exactly like a fat, fluffy little brown fox. Lucius had never seen anything like it.
He tried to pet it, and the dog allowed him. It was as soft as it looked.
Right after that, a body fell with a thump in front of Lucius.
The dog yelped and scrambled into Lucius' lap. He held onto it, feeling it shiver in fear, its face buried in the crook of his elbow.
"Lucius!"
It was Pete. He was wiping blood off his sword using the shirt from the dead body.
Lucius watched his sweet, lovely boyfriend as he went through the pockets of the dead man. Pete waved something in front of him. "Lucius, Sweetie, take this."
Lucius held out his hand mechanically and grabbed the flask Pete gave him.
"Drink it, love. You don't look so good."
"I don't feel so good," Lucius said. He sniffed at the dented container. It was rum. He took a hearty swig and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Now that Pete was finished looting the dead man, he sat down next to Lucius who handed the flask back over. Pete was covered in blood and looked exhilarated.
Pete said, "So what do you have there, Sweetie?"
"Uh, it's a dog. I think, unless it's a fox."
"Really? All I can see is fur. Looks like a rich person's coat."
"It is very furry," Lucius assented. He started petting it and felt marginally better as his fingers ran through the soft, thick, fur.
Pete made a sad face. "We can't keep it, hon."
Lucius looked over at Pete. "We can't let it die."
"You know how Blackbeard feels about pets."
Lucius sighed. "I know. Just… I want to hold it a little bit longer."
Pete cocked his head to the side, listening.A moment later, he heard it, too: an argument had broken out between the two captains.
It was loud. "Why do we always have to burn things? It's a perfectly good ship. No need to set it aflame!"
That was Stede's petulant voice. Lucius didn't hear Ed's grumbled reply, but he heard Wee John's voice call out, "Too late!"
Lucius smelled the fire before he saw it.
Pete looked stricken. "We can't let a dog go up in flames! That's not right!"
Lucius felt very torn. He really didn't want to get in trouble again. But Pete was right. "So what do we do?"
Pete looked around. His eyes fell on a cloth bag which he picked up and emptied out. "Put it in here. We'll hide it."
"We can't hide it forever, Sweetie," Lucius whispered.
"Are you kidding? All those secret passages and you don't think we can hide a dog?"
"What will we feed it?"
Pete shrugged. "I heard ship dogs were good at catching rats. They probably eat them, too."
Lucius felt even more horrified than before. "Ugh."
"C'mon," said Pete. "Let's get you back on the Revenge. You can hide it while everyone is still here."
Lucius nodded and the two of them got the frightened animal into the sack. It squirmed a little, then went still. Lucius hoped it was okay.
Then Pete helped him to his feet. They walked across the bloody deck, Pete keeping Lucius steady.
"Close your eyes Babe, you don't want to see this," he warned before they left the ship.
Lucius dutifully let Pete lead him around the grisly obstacles.
Once Lucius was safe on the Revenge, Pete went back to the Dutch ship for a little more looting.
He kissed him goodbye and said, "I'll find you, Babe."
Lucius put one foot in front of the other and went below deck. He chose one of the little storerooms that was full of jam. It was easy to hide there.
He sat down on the deck behind some crates with the bag in his lap and closed his eyes.
Lucius had no idea how much time had passed when he opened his eyes. It was still night, with moonlight coming through the porthole.
The dog was out of the sack and nestled against the front of his belly.
He was laying down on his side, wrapped in a blanket. Pete's arms held him from behind.
Pete himself was lightly snoring. He smelled like lavender soap, so he'd cleaned up after the raid before he came to find Lucius. Pete must have helped him get comfortable, too.
Lucius was still exhausted. He closed his eyes and just saw more stabbing and death again. He wouldn't be able to sleep.
He took a shuddering breath. He was a shit pirate.
The dog snuffled, shifted over, and licked Lucius' face.
"I bet you're hungry," Lucius said, moving Pete's arms and sitting up. "Stay here with Daddy. I'll get something."
Pete, a light sleeper, stirred as Lucius moved. He laughed, rubbing his eyes. "So I'm the Daddy. What does that make you?"
Lucius felt lighter hearing Pete tease. "Well, I'm not the Mama," he insisted.
Pete laughed. "Okay, love. Just bring more rum with the food. It'll help both of us."
Lucius knew he was right. Whenever his anxiety flared up, getting drunk helped him settle down and sleep. Lucius leaned over and kissed Pete. "I'll be back in a jiffy."
Pete nodded. "I know." The round little dog stood up, turned in a few circles, and snuggled up next to Pete. Lucius smiled and left the storeroom.
The dark hallways of the ship were difficult to navigate at night but Lucius made it to the galley in record time.
A lone candle burned inside the room so Lucius didn't see Izzy Hands at first.
"Where have you been?" Izzy's voice seemed to come out of nowhere and Lucius screamed in response.
Izzy moved into the light. "Enough noise! Shut up! What are you doing here?"
Lucius swallowed. "Uh... I'm hungry?"
Izzy drawled, "Everyone's hungry. All the time. Like two or three or five times a day. It's insane." His eyes, which had been hard and flinty, seemed to lose focus.
"Yeah. Uh, It really is, almost like... it's a physical need." Lucius agreed.
"Yeah," Izzy said. "Yeah."
Izzy seemed more off than usual. "Uh…. Izzy, I'm going to just get some stuff and leave."
Izzy waved, no longer interested. "Yeah. Alright. Whatever."
As soon as Izzy turned away, Lucius grabbed some salted meat, hardtack, and a large bottle of rum. He kept glancing at Izzy, but the asshole didn't say anything else or even move. It was creepy and made Lucius work faster.
After he grabbed everything, he fled the galley. Lucius found the secret storeroom again and let himself in.
As soon as he was inside, the dog ran up to him, wagging its tail. Pete was sitting up, looking fondly at both of them.
Lucius gave the dog some of the food and passed the rest to Pete. "Do you think it needs to–you know? Go?"
Pete shook his head and talked around a full mouth. "She already went. Piddled and shat on some papers in the corner. I threw it all out the porthole already."
Lucius sat down next to Pete and passed him the bottle of rum. "She? You sure it's a girl?"
"Pretty sure," said Pete. "We should name her."
"I'm terrible at names. She looks like a little wolf or fox, though. Maybe we can call her Wolfy or Foxy."
Pete passed back the rum. "Wolfy sounds cooler."
Lucius took a generous swallow of alcohol. "Wolfy it is, then." The cheap rum burned going down. He turned to Pete. "You know how the Captain always wants us to talk it through?"
"As a crew? Yeah. It's hard to do that sometimes." He took the bottle from Lucius. "Not with you. It's easy with you."
"Yeah." Lucius agreed, petting Wolfy. "Just… the killing… You're so sweet, Babe, but you're like a bloodthirsty pirate, too. I don't get it sometimes."
Pete tilted his head back, thinking. "My life has never been easy. Not till I met you, Babe.
"Before we were together, I never cared about myself or anyone else. I always just, you know, kept going.
"But now I try to keep an eye on you so you don't die. And I don't feel bad killing people who want to hurt you."
"Yeah," Lucius gave Pete a small smile. "I guess that's sort of sweet." He held Pete's hand.
Pete laughed. "For someone who grew up as hard as me, that's as sweet as it gets."
Lucius was feeling tipsy now and the negative feelings were going away with his sobriety.
"Now, I know that's not true, though I'll bet you're plenty hard right now." He elbowed Pete playfully.
"Do you think it would be weird to do it in front of Wolfy?"
Lucius laughed. "Nah." He leaned his head on Pete's shoulder.
Pete turned to kiss him. Lucius sighed, feeling safe and cherished.
In the morning, they woke up naked and a little bit hungover. From the position of the sun, it was pretty late.
Lucius could faintly hear Stede bellowing for him. He groaned and untangled himself from Pete, who was still asleep.
Lucius grumbled. He got up, dressed as fast as possible, kissed Pete, pet Wolfy, who was curled up on top of his boyfriend, and then ran up to Stede's cabin with the journal.
"There you are!"
"Here I am!" Lucius said as cheerily as possible. It wasn't very cheery. He eyed Stede's tea, wishing he had a cup.
Edward emerged from the auxiliary wardrobe wearing a loose violet shirt tucked into his leather pants. "He's been looking everywhere for you." He crossed the room and kissed Stede on the cheek.
Lucius kind of wished Ed wasn't there. They had "talked it out," but while Stede was satisfied with the results, Lucius found their private discussion a little bit lacking.
Ed had told him that if he so much as hinted about his attempted murder that he'd cut off another of Izzy's toes and make Lucius eat it. Overall, Lucius didn't feel exactly safe.
Lucius cleared his throat. "So, uh, how can I help you today?"
Stede looked up from the tea he was preparing by dropping half the sugar bowl into it. "Read Ed the part you wrote about his performance in the raid."
Ed sat down next to Stede and accepted the sweetened cup of tea. "Thanks. Stede says I was spectacular."
"I bet," Lucius murmured, and louder, said, "Hang on. Let me find it."
He turned to a page with writing on it, though this page had nothing to do with the raid. Lucius only pretended to write during battles and would go back and write things up from memory later.
Lucius cleared his throat and started, "Captain Blackbeard–"
"Who is still extremely fearsome," cut in Ed, as he stroked his bare chin.
"Oh my, yes! That dark makeup you wore yesterday is even scarier than a plain old beard!" Stede put in, touching Ed's hand.
"I like to think it lends a more metaphorical touch. Takes things up to the level of what do you call it?"
"Psychological horror maybe?"
Ed snapped and pointed at Stede. "Exactly!"
They smiled at one another and sighed over their tea. Lucius wanted very much to leave. He coughed and Stede said to continue.
"Right. Where was I?"
"I believe you were about to describe my incomparable moves?" Ed supplied.
"Right. So… Captain Blackbeard pulled a sword out of the belly of his vile Dutch foe."
"See? Very dramatic start," Stede said approvingly.
"Yes, the boy has a way with words."
Lucius had been "the boy" ever since Ed had pushed him overboard. Stede hadn't noticed. He called him "boy" half the time too.
Lucius rolled his eyes. Ed and Stede didn't notice because they were too wrapped up in each other. Lucius experimentally put the journal down and walked over to the bookshelf. He knew he'd seen a book about dogs at some point.
"Lucius, please continue," Stede called out.
Lucius looked over his shoulder. They hadn't even looked up. He continued a litany of made-up nonsense as he perused the shelves.
He finally found something about raising livestock. A quick glance showed that it covered the topic of dogs. It was ridiculously big and heavy, but Lucius needed it. He'd never had a pet before.
He was glad Stede hadn't seen him pick the book. He didn't want to have to explain why he wanted it.
Lucius finished up his tale of Blackbeard's exploits as he sat down again, put down the book and picked up the journal.
Ed was the one who looked over first. He seemed to think something over, then clapped Stede on the shoulder. "Stede, let's get the swords out and practice!"
Stede responded positively, setting down his tea and announcing he'd have to change his outfit again. The two men disappeared together into the auxiliary closet.
As soon as they were gone, Lucius drank the leftover tea, wincing at all the sugar in Ed's cup. Then he ran out of the room before they remembered he was there.
Lucius almost crashed into Izzy as he fled.
"Watch it!"
Lucius backed away and watched Izzy put his hand on the door to the Captains' quarters.
"I wouldn't," said Lucius.
"What? Who are you to–"
Lucius pressed his lips together, then interrupted, "They're dressing each other."
Izzy's eyes lost their edge again. He sighed. Lucius almost felt bad for Izzy. He really was a weird fucker.
When Lucius got back to the room, Pete was pacing. "I was wondering when you'd get back. I have to take a leak."
"Why didn't you?"
"Wolfy freaked out. Started barking and crying."
"Oh! Well go on then. I'm here."
Pete kissed his cheek. "Thanks, sweetie."
Lucius sat down with the book, Wolfy at his side. He started on the chapter about dogs. Wolfy looked nothing like the drawings of hounds. Instead she looked like the foxes they were trained to hunt. The book was turning out to be a bust.
The door creaked open and Pete whispered, "Sweetie?"
"I'm here."
"Good. I brought help."
Lucius didn't know what Pete had gotten up to, but initially he panicked, trying to hide the book and Wolfy all at the same time.
When Fang stepped into view, he calmed down.
Fang came over and kissed Lucius on his temple.
"Hi Dearie! What do you have here?" He smiled and then picked up Wolfy.
Lucius reached for Pete who gave him his hand. The two of them watched Fang examine the dog.
"Well, she's a Keeshond. Also, she's pregnant," Fang announced. "And Blackbeard hates pets."
"I'm sorry, what?" Lucius stammered.
Pete said, "Blackbeard hates–"
"No, I know that! What was the first thing you said, Fang?"
Fang smiled and gently stroked Wolfy's belly. "She's a Keeshond and she's pregnant. Close to popping, I'd say."
Lucius groaned. "That's terrible! We'll never keep her a secret now!"
Fang shook his head. He looked very serious. "Lads, we all have each other. I won't let anyone hurt this cute little bitch."
Pete laughed. "Okay. So now we're all dog Daddies."
Fang nodded. "We're in this together."
Lucius groaned. "He's going to push me overboard. Again." He tried to keep his tone light, but this was another thing he had nightmares about.
Fang put Wolfy down and hugged Lucius. "And I'll fish you out again, dear."
He knew that. He believed that. But he still didn't want to go through it again!
Pete joined in, putting his arms around them, too. "Lulu, don't worry! We're going to keep each other safe."
"We'll watch you like a hawk, dear."
Lucius thought his heart would burst. As they let go, he wiped away tears and took stock of the room. "If we're having puppies, we need more stuff, right?"
Fang nodded and the three of them plotted together.